Newzity

On the Internet one can find more information on how to commit suicide than how not to. Not only that, a British study found that half of the Internet sites that are dedicated to suicide related information promote the act. Only one in eight sites provides information on prevention.

The study used 12 suicide related terms on four difference search engines - Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com. They collected a total of 480 links - top ten from each search, and found 240 unique sites. Almost half of those 240 sites had information on suicide methods. One fifth of all 480 sites were primarily dedicated to suicide. Half of those dedicated sites were considered encouraging suicide, not trying to prevent it. Only 62 of the total 480 sites had information on prevention, and 59 sites clearly discouraged suicide. All the three sites that came up most frequently on the search encouraged the visitor to commit suicide.

It is depressing since people with suicidal thoughts may not reach out to other people and try to look for information on the Internet. And as it turns out they are most likely to find encouragement and not much help.

Yes, they are. A new study published in British journal showed that heavy duty house chores improve our mental health and mood - even as little as 20 minutes a week helps.

Though the physical benefits of exercise are well known, exercise is not a sure cure for blues. But this study of 20 thousand people showed that exercises do improve our mood. And it can be anything: scrubbing the bathtub, mopping the kitchen, mowing the lawn, or playing your favorite sports. As little as 20 minutes of housework per week reduces the risk of mental stress and anxiety by 41 percent. When it comes to the blues, sports are most effective and reduce the mood lows by one third. People who do heavy duty housework at least once a week are 20% less likely to suffer from mental health problems. However, the lightweight chores, such as taking the trash out or dusting the table top, do not count. Also, more scrubbing is not as effective as more sports.

So don’t feel bad about all those house chores you have on your to-do list. Go ahead and finish them. They will cheer you up.

Yes, they are. One in five scientists pop a pill or two to boost their brain power according to a survey published in Britain.

So it is not just the professional players any more. Close to 15 hundred scientists, mostly American, were surveyed for the research. One in five said they take drugs not for any medical reasons but just to improve their performance. And they are the ones running our scientific institutions and centers for higher education. Among those pill popping scientists, three in five use pills regularly, even daily. Their favorite pills are Ritalin, used by 60%, and Provigil, used by half of them. They take the pills to improve their concentration and ability to think better. These pills, or the study aids, are also popular in college campuses. Of course, everyone taking the pill says it is not big deal - they can stop at any time.

What about the rest 80% of the scientists? They do not take drugs themselves, but they strongly defend their right to take pills. They see no problem with the habit or students taking pills for exams.

Scary but it looks that way. Twenty-two year old Aretha Vinson has diagnosed with mad cow disease - the first such case in US soil.

Aretha, a graduate student from Virginia State University, most likely got it during a surgery from tainted instruments. Soon after her surgery she started to lose her memory and her ability to move. The human form of mad cow disease is rare, one in million, but fatal. It attacks the brain and slowly fills it with holes, and there is no cure. Since 1996, 200 people died of mad cow disease in the world - 189 of them in Europe. Though three people have died in US, they contracted it overseas. This is the first time someone got it here. You can get the disease from contaminated food, especially beef, but not from casual contact.

Aretha is suffering excruciating pain. Authorities are hoping contaminated food was not the source. For the safety of all, we hope that is the case.

Update, 10 April, 2008: Aretha Vinson died on Wednesday, April 9.

Yes you can. All four recipients of the organs from a teenager, who was misdiagnosed before his death, got cancer. Two of them died and other two are receiving cancer treatment.

Fifteen year old Alex Koehne was seriously ill and suffering from nausea, severe pain, seizures, and double vision. At Stony Brook Hospital he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and given antibiotics. Sadly, he died last March, and his parents did not hesitate to donate his organs. Organs from such young patients are rare and considered perfect. However, a month later an autopsy found that he died from a rare blood cancer. But it was too late. All four of the patients who got the organs were already infected: a 56 year old man who got his liver died in four months, and a 36 year woman who got his pancreas died a few months later. The two people who got his kidneys are undergoing chemotherapy. The state Health Department “did not find flaws in policies, procedures and actions at Stony Brook.” The Donor Network involved in the transplant expressed sympathy but pointed out that transplant saved 22 thousand lives last year and more than six thousand died without getting one.

Those may be solid statistics but are not comforting for the patients worried about transplant safety.

No, it is not. According to a new study Vytorin is no better than other drugs for preventing heart disease.

Vytorin was touted as the miracle drug for combating heart diseases, and earlier this year its manufacturers launched a $200 million dollar ad campaign. It must have been effective, since there are about 20 million Americans taking this cholesterol reducing medicine. And not just the patients, doctors too bought the hype. Vytorin was supposed to reduce three main contributors of heart diseases: bad LDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and neck artery plaque. Though Vytorin is more effective in reducing the first two, it failed to show its effect on the third. Unfortunately, the third one directly contributes to cardiac problems. As if Vytorin does everything except really improving the health of the patient. In the light of the new results, American College of Cardiology (ACC) is recommending Vytorin should be used as a last resort.

Congress is looking into the possibility that Vytorin was unfairly prescribed and people spent a lot of money for nothing. And there is the question of corporate misconduct: one Schering-Plough sold about a million of shares of the company before the news became public.

But for rest of us, the problems do not end with Vytorin. For a long time, we led to believe that lowering bad cholesterol automatically means better cardiac health. The new result proves otherwise. That leaves us with the question: how do we prevent heart disease?

Not at all. A new study found that more than one in two normal looking Americans are actually obese. So it is not always easy to detect obesity just by looks.

Obesity can cause a lot of health problems: from diabetes to heart disease. But obesity is not just about how much we weigh, it is about how much body fat we have and where we have it. We are obese if we have large amount of body fat compared to our body weight. If you are man, then more than 20% body fat is considered obese, and for woman the number is 30%. So you can be obese at any weight category. Those who have normal body weight for their height but have a high body fat content suffer from what is called normal-weight-obesity, and it is as bad as obesity in overweight people. Not all body fats are equal: fat near the vital organs are worst. That is why belly fat is far more dangerous for everyone.

Normal body weight is a good thing, but is does not mean good health. We should not only watch our weight, but also body fat. Body fat can hide under normal looking bodies.

No, it is not. That is according to a UPENN research team. Drinking all that water does not do you any good.

We all heard the eight glasses of water a day rule. The more we drink the better it is for us. Not so, say Dr. Goldfarb and Dr. Negoianu who have studied the medical literature on the effect of drinking water and its health benefits. Surely, there are people who need to drink a lot of water - for example, athletes, people in dry and hot places. But more water does not do a thing for normal healthy people. There are four benefits of drinking a lot of water that are commonly cited: it helps us get rid of more toxins; makes our skin look healthier, helps us loss appetite, and prevents headaches. As for toxins, kidney does the job with or without water. So what does more water do for you? Goldfarb said:

“When you take in a lot of water, all you do is put out more urine but not more toxins in the urine.”

There is no solid scientific evidence for the other three claims either. Should you stop drinking lots of water? Not really. It does not do any harm, so no need to change your habits. And if you stop guzzling water what will happen to the billion-dollar bottled water market? By the way, you get tap water and pay for the packaging. And we all know more of those bottles are not good for the environment.

Yes you can. American Heart Association says hands-only CPR is as effective for cardiac arrests, and there is no harm in losing the lip action.

That is a major shift from earlier recommendations. The acceptance of hands-only CPR did not happen overnight; it was gradual. Even in the last update in 2005, the mouth-to-mouth breathing between chest compressions was preferred. This is the first time hands-only CPR is recommended without any reservation. It has two big advantages: it is easier and people are less reluctant to perform it on a stranger. Hands-only CPR needs only chest presses, about 100 per minute. For many adults besides being yucky, mouth-to-mouth breathing also carries the risk of infection, and that is why they shy away from doing it. Though CPR can double or even triple the survival rate, less than one in three people receive it outside hospital. With the added ease and risk free approach, hands-only CPR will improve the chance of survival for many of the 310 thousands cardiac patients that die annually.

But if you find a kid in trouble, try the mouth-to-mouth breathing because most likely she is suffering from breathing trouble to start with. But then it is easier to do on a kid.

Surely not, especially if they contain plastic and glass fragments. Stonyfield Farm is recalling several batches of its blueberry yogurt after consumers complained of finding plastic or glass fragments in the 6 oz. cups.

Stonyfield Farm said:

The recall applies only to Stonyfield Organic Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt in 6 oz. cups carrying product codes printed on the cup bottoms that start with the following dates: Apr 13 08, Apr 14 08, April 15 08, April 25 08 and April 26 08.

Please check your refrigerator before you find free plastic or glass fragments in your favorite yogurt. And if you are one of those health-conscious blueberry-flavored-yogurt-lovers, then return the yogurt containers (opened or unopened) to stores for full refunds.

Live culture is good, but not the dead plastic ones.